Inspiring Simplicity. Weekend Reads.

Written byjoshua becker ·

Fill your life with stories to tell, not stuff to show.

The simplicity/minimalism movement is a beautiful community. It is friendly, encouraging, and helpful. There is a genuine understanding that any promotion of simplicity is good for society—and there is little concern over who gets the credit for it.

It is a pleasure to be part of such a wonderful group of people. And I enjoy every opportunity to promote writing that encourages people to live more by owning less.

So fix yourself a nice warm cup of coffee or tea. Find a quiet moment this weekend. And enjoy some encouraging words to inspire more simplicity in your life today.

The Empty Container | Zen Habits by Leo Babauta. What would you do if your life was a blank slate? If it were an empty container, with limited space, what would you put in it?

Comments

So many good reads this morning at the kitchen table while my husband makes hash browns and eggs. Like the uniform idea. Don’t like the ads on any of the blog sites, so once again, so appreciate the clean look of your site. Who can read with all that goofy color jumping around on the periphery? Since the holiday season is upon us, I liked reading about the Thanksgiving Day/Black Friday sales. Having never been to this event, and skipping gifting at Christmas, it is always a sad laugh to see videos of people behaving like a herd of cows/sheep/pigs (pick your animal) as if Made in China crap was in dire short supply! I applaud Costco for never being open on a holiday and Hobby Lobby for never being open on a Sunday. Good employers!

All this time my sisters have teased me about my boring “uniform” (dark jeans/slacks or yoga pants and a long or short sleeve shirt in a solid color – white, black, navy or red) and I knew that i liked it bc it was easy and i didnt have to think about it. As a working mom of a toddler and a doctoral student, i need life to be as simple as possible.

Reading Mr. Kane’s article, I kept wondering why he is so convinced his children/grandchildren/great-grandchildren will be as fascinated by his artifacts as he is. But perhaps having just spent way too much time dealing with the detritus of an older generation, I am projecting.

Good point! Nothing like cleaning out your parents’ house to inspire you to come home and clean out your own! My parents loved their stuff so much that they expected me to feel the same. I certainly could not absorb someone else’s household into mine. They were so disappointed. My son, having viewed the work involved in cleaning up someone else’s treasures of a lifetime, constantly tells me, “I don’t want ANY of your stuff. Don’t hang on to anything for me.”

Okay, so I’ve gotten rid of everything… What happens next? Wasn’t I supposed to find the meaning of life? All these articles talk about finding the essence of living once the clutter is gone, but never how to find it. What if I don’t want to take more long walks, meet with more friends, drink yet more coffee, and read more books? All things I could easily do surrounded by stuff. How does stuff interfere with any of this? Many of these articles feel like a nice massage, but not any substance.

Interesting question! It totally depends on what *you* want to do next. There is no one answer, you have to find out yourself what you want to do with the time and space that minimalism opens up. If it’s not going on walks, then what could it be?

And I totally agree, of course you can do all of the things you mentioned while being surrounded by stuff. If it’s not in the way of what you want to do, there is really no reason of getting rid of anything. As long as you are happy, why change anything.

For me, personally minimalism worked well because it made things possible that would have been a proper headache (if not impossible) had I had more stuff. For me it’s a practical step in order to achieve happiness, an applicable solution to a problem I had, so it worked.

Such a perfect question that no one can answer but you. I think the Umbrella of Less incorporates so much more than fewer possessions. I think clearing out stuff is the first step to clear out your head. I find clutter to be a huge distraction and waste of effort to maintain. If you don’t, then good for you. My son asks me the exact same question you posed and it makes me sad for him that he doesn’t have an answer. I think the Idea of Less makes me feel that I am ready to undergo change, that I am moving forward in life, that I am not attached to stuff that someone else was attached to and foisted on me and I am afraid to get rid of. I like air in my space instead of my eye bouncing on too many things as I pass through or sit in a room. I like order. I believe in a small footprint on my planet v.s. a wasteful footprint. I would rather put my time into my spouse and son and dog and neighbors than consuming and maintaining what I consumed. But, if this entire experiment with less left you pointless, then, lucky you, you can buy more stuff and fill up your life again! It’s just that easy!

For me, I’d like more time just to “be” and to enjoy the people in my life. I find having more stuff = more time cleaning, moving things around, dusting etc. That steals time from my family and friends and new adventures we could be having. Even if all I wanted to do was sit around, it would still be peaceful with less clutter. But yes, it is important to know what you want to do next so you can stick with it and have a reason for not hanging on to clutter-even if it’s just that you don’t want to be wasteful and that you want to share with others. Great thing to think about.

I always look forward to sitting back on Sunday mornings and reading Weekend Reads! It is a way for me to push the reset button and start the week right.
I am sitting up in bed sipping my tea and looking around my bedroom and I realize I have allowed clutter-creep to settle in. Time to get out the trash bags and get cracking!

Wow, for some reason this post was ON POINT for me this week. I loved the uniform article (I hate picking out my outfit every morning), and the Forbes Unclutter Your mind article was perfect. When he mentions suddenly losing interest in all of that stuff, it was like he was writing about me. I had that feeling a couple weeks ago and have been so unhappy in my cluttered home ever since. I spent the weekend cleaning and uncluttering one (of three) main areas and it makes me feel so happy every time I walk through that room.

1 MILLION READERS CAN’T BE WRONG.

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